Northern Californian court ruling favorable to Carson mobile home conversion

Friday, August 21, 2009
Gene Maddaus
dailybreeze.com

An appellate court ruling in Northern California has dashed the hopes of Carson mobile home residents who want to keep city rent control in place.

The case, Sequoia Park Associates v. Sonoma County, was closely watched in Carson, where owner James Goldstein is attempting to convert two mobile home parks from rentals to resident-ownership.

A three-judge panel ruled unanimously Friday that Sonoma County had overstepped its bounds by imposing additional requirements on top of state law, which had the effect of making it more difficult to convert parks.

"This reaffirms what we've been saying," said Goldstein's attorney, Richard Close. "This was the last hope the cities had of having some way to interfere with the conversions."

Carson City Attorney Bill Wynder, who filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Sonoma case, said the city is disappointed in the ruling.

"It was not the outcome we had hoped for," Wynder said.

Spurred by seniors who fear losing rent control, the city has blocked Goldstein from converting both parks. Just last week, the Carson Planning Commission voted to reject the conversion of Colony Cove Mobile Estates.

Part of the commission's reasoning was that the legal issues surrounding such conversions were still unsettled, because the Sonoma case was pending.

However, the city already has lost three lawsuits filed by Goldstein. Though those cases are on appeal, the City Council has voted to seek a settlement with Goldstein that would allow the conversion of both parks to go forward.

Goldstein also is seeking more than $150 million in damages from the city. Wynder has called that figure grossly inflated.

The Sonoma ruling could mean, however, that it will cost the city more to settle the litigation than it would have otherwise.

"This makes our damage case so much better," Close said.

gene.maddaus@dailybreeze.com 

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